Mets Minors: Is Aderlin Rodriguez the next Jesus Montero?

Aderlin Rodriguez can hit. He’s got power and a swing that gets scouts excited but his game has a lot of problems… especially for a National League team. The fact is, that Rodriguez makes Wilmer Flores look like a defensive gem and that is hardly a good thing.

Stats We Like:
4 Doubles
3 HRs
11 RBIs
.522 SLG

Stats We Don’t Like:
9 K’s
7 Errors
11 Games

The striking out comes along with being a slugger and it’s not terrible for a player to only hit around .250 if he’s doing it with a ton of power (Ask Mark Reynolds). What is scary is that he has made an error in more than every other outing. So if Rodriguez is not going to cut it at third base, the obvious course is to shift him to first. Problem there is that Ike Davis is likely to block that position for a time beyond Rodriguez being ready for the majors. So… without first base or DH available and with the memories of Daniel Murphy in left field the Mets really have no use for Rodriguez. A little like the Yankees situation with Jesus Montero.

Before we start to get ahead of ourselves, Rodriguez is not yet the hitter that Montero is. All I am trying to say is that if Rodriguez does manage to continue to progress through the minors with his bat the Mets have limited options for getting that bat into their lineup. Just as the Yankees didn’t see Montero lasting as an everyday catcher or someone who could displace Mark Teixeira, the Mets can’t see Rodriguez’ future with the organization while Ike Davis remains. So… unless Davis were traded, Rodriguez becomes a giant power-hitting cookie to dangle in front of AL teams who can use a 1B/DH type player with big right-handed power.

I expect the Mets to pursue a switch of position for Rodriguez as he’s not looking like he’s helping anyone by playing third. If he did switch across the diamond to first he could probably also move up to Port St. Lucie where scouts would expect his power to go up.